


The Cost of a Life

by MothWings (Gingersnapped)



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: One Shot, Shadow Walk, Shadow monster Emily, Void Emily, no ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 18:04:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11041428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gingersnapped/pseuds/MothWings
Summary: An extremely loud clatter made Emily's heart spike. She swiveled her head of shadows to observe two things that she somehow missed in her sweep of the large room.One: the source of the noise was a platter of fruit that a woman was carrying, and two: a miniature version of Jindosh’s Arc Pylons sitting in the back corner of the room. The maid in question was currently backing up toward it as she stared at Emily in horror.





	The Cost of a Life

**Author's Note:**

> I know this isn't a continuation on my current stories, but I've been heavily into Dishonored for some time and this idea hasn't left my head in days. 
> 
> I originally meant to write about the horror that is Shadow Walker Emily Kaldwin, only to write about how she still deserves appreciation and kindness despite it.

The months that Emily spent in Karnaca had changed her, for better or worse.

Probably worse.

Time flew so quickly with everything that had transpired. The coup, the reveal of the Crown Killer, Jindosh, Ashworth, Stilton, and now…

Emily stood on a far off balcony gazing at her next destination. She might have admired the Duke’s home if it wasn't his, but the shape of it was so contrasting to surrounding architecture. Emily huffed, she had to hear him brag about it the few times she had met him, she at least had to admit it was immense in person.

Snapping back to the task at hand, Emily quickly deemed the best way to get in was the most obvious one: carriage. She held out her left hand, feeling the tingle under her skin as she reached and pulled toward her necessary destination.

 _It once burned_ , Emily thought. But no more. The more frequently she used the Outsider’s… gifts, the less painful her mark was. It was concerning, but she had bigger fish on her platter of problems.

As she landed as quietly as possible in the carriage, she pulled down on the lever to put it on its path forward. It would be a short ride there, and in the meantime Emily pulled out her crossbow and readied it with sleep darts. Just in case.

Emily breathed heavily through her nose. Now, to wait.

Her body jostled softly to and fro with the carriage, her body slumped almost lazily in its seat. Her personal teachers might’ve called it unbecoming of an Empress if they had room to express an opinion. As much as the staff nagged at her, she honestly missed them. With their nagging came kindness. A pastry hidden away for her, or her favorite shirts always clean. Encouragement and support when she needed it most. And now most of them were probably dead.

A slow burning fury rose from Emily's depressive state, only to be snuffed out by voices nearby. The carriage had stopped without her realizing.

“...and that's why there's extra guards around, see, since Duke Luca came by last night. So you are to deliver his good to him at dinner time sharp, understood? You have the time tables?” there was a shuffling sound, and an impatient tapping foot somewhere to Emily's left. She quickly blinked with her void eyes to reveal two of Luca’s staff behind a nearby wall. Emily nearly groaned in irritation. Along with the staff were two guards and a _dog._ She _hated_ the dogs.

Well, her mission was to find Delilah’s soul, but if Luca was here…it would be a disappointment if she didn't pick up two birds when she cast one stone.

Besides, she suddenly had a lot of anger to release.

After some quick maneuvering, nearly falling into the ocean, and deft acrobatics Emily felt the beating of her mother's heart in her breast pocket. There was a Void artifact nearby. Blinking to use her Dark Vision once again revealed that it was a bonecharm in a room nearby with, of course, a guard stationed inside.

 _It's just one guard, totally fine._ She thought.

Luck seemed to be on her side as he was facing away from her.

She opened the door without so much as a creak and snuck toward the unsuspecting man. Emily hoped all her take downs would be this easy.

Of course, she might as well have stepped on a cat's tail with that sort of thinking. Emily was two feet out of cover when the guard turned his body to stretch and yawn.

There wasn't enough time to head back without making a noise, not enough time to render him unconscious. Her instincts sprung and she thought of the only power she loathed to use.

Shadow Walk.

Emily had seen what she looked like as she passed by a mirror while using this ability. Tall. Spindly. Terrifying, and not at all human. But her appearance wasn't even the worst part. It was how she felt when in her shadow form. She felt powerful, able to render a man to shreds _._

And it felt _good._

Even as her physical form began to turn into smoke she could feel her heart quiver in delight, and she almost shivered in her own disgust. It was no way for an Empress of the people to think.

With her new speed and stealth, Emily quickly crawled behind the guard who was now rubbing his eyes in confusion. She reached her long, clawed hand for his legs and swept his feet out from under him. Before he could scream, as many did when she was still getting use to the powers of this form, she took his breath and consciousness. It was always hard to resist to urge to skewer them, it would be so _easy_ and some part of her reveled in the thought, but she hasn't failed to resist yet.

 _There,_ Emily thought and tapped her onyx claws on the immaculate granite floor. _No alarm bells, no problem._

An extremely loud clatter made Emily's heart spike. She swiveled her head of shadows to observe two things that she somehow missed in her sweep of the large room. One: the source of the noise was a platter of fruit that a woman was carrying, and two: a miniature version of Jindosh’s Arc Pylons sitting in the back corner of the room. The maid in question was currently backing up toward it as she stared at Emily in horror.

Thoughts of her own, slain royal staff appeared and suddenly her bloodlust vanished to be replaced by fear for this woman.

 _No, no, no, no!_ Emily's thoughts echoed in desperation as she quickly crawled toward this nameless woman. The woman Emily meant to save now _did_ scream, turning around to scramble away toward the machine that would most likely kill her. Emily did not trust Luca to give his staff clearance to a death machine, judging by all the dead staff she had witnessed here already.

Emily liked to stay on the ground in her shadow form, as it was quicker to get around and she was less noticeable. It also spared her of staring into her reflection if she passed by glass. But now she was dead set on saving this one human being’s life that she stood up. If this poor woman across from her looked scared before, she now looked terrified. Emily hated it, she knew what this woman was seeing.

Quick as a whip, Emily shot her arms out and grabbed the shrieking woman around her middle and wrapped her claws around the woman's mouth as she willed them to turn back to fingers.

It was an effort to transform back and hold onto someone who was struggling more than a giant Gristol rabbit. Especially one who was trying to bolt to her unknowing death.

 _I guess she thinks_ I'm _the source of her untimely death._ Emily thought through exasperation.

As soon as she had a mouth Emily quickly shushed the woman, human arms and fingers holding her against Emily tighter now that there was no threat of accidentally slicing her open.

“Ma’m- ma’m! Sh, shhh! You're fine, you're safe, you're fine,” Emily was never good at calming someone. Hilariously, her father was better at it than she was. She tried a different approach. “Listen! If you go toward that machine in the back of the room you'll die!-”

Emily's voice was silenced and her tongue very nearly cleaved by her teeth. The staff woman managed to bash her palm against Emily's jaw, grabbing her scarf as she pulled away. Emily let go of the woman to try and keep her scarf on her face and her identity a secret. The things this woman saw…

It was no use. Down she fell, onto the floor with Emily's scarf in hand. Emily's face was bare for the first time in hours.

Emily stood stalk still, her breathing heavy and fingers trembling. The pain in her jaw far away as new anxieties awoke in her head. Rumors were just starting to disperse about her being the Crown Killer. If word got out that she was worse, that she was a _monster_ -

“Em-Empress?” Emily's eyes met the dark brown gaze of the woman on the floor. She still stood silently, not knowing what to expect from the now quiet, and probably confused woman. “I don't understand, you- you were that-?”

Creature? Witch? Monster? Emily would never know, because the staffer didn't finish. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one else had come by to check on this woman and that her screaming hasn't alerted any other guards. She slowly lowered herself to crouch as non-threatening as possible and did the only thing she was trained to do before and after she became Empress.

Get to know your people.

“What is your name?” Emily said softly. It suddenly occurred to her that the inside of her mouth was dry as ash.

The other woman was shaking too, it seemed, as she tried to make sense of anything she saw moments ago to this moment. The scarf she was gripping like a life line quivered with evidence of that.

“... Marne.” She finally answered, just as softly. “Marne Knottsfield, Empress. It is you, you are her?”

Emotions flickered through Marne’s eyes like falling stars, coming and going before Emily could identify any of them.

“You can call me Emily, it's alright,” regardless that she wasn't actually officially Empress at this time, it still didn't seem an  appropriate title given the events that just transpired. Emily put out a hand as a calming gesture while using her other to point behind Marne at the Arc Pylon. “I need you to only turn your head to look at something- no, don't move too much. Just look behind you at the humming machine.”

Marne did as she was asked, stiffly looking at the instant-death-machine. Emily continued to tell her about what it was, why she should never go near it, and to warn others she cared about as well just in case.

Finally, a clear emotion shone through Marne’s rich brown eyes. Gratitude. Disbelief. That combination hurt Emily. What did these poor people go through here daily that warning them about a dangerous machine in the place that they _lived_ was considered a kindness?

“Thank you, I- we- no one even told us… they had just said to mind it because it wasn't for us. I never imagined…”

If Emily had been hidden, she wondered what her mother's heart would say about the woman in front of her. She knew in her own heart that she'd have to stop thinking like that soon. Too soon.

Some semblance of sadness must have shown in Emily's face because she felt comforting hands over her own. Hesitantly at first, as if claws would appear suddenly from Emily's fingers. Then Marne’s hold grew stronger, defiant of her own fear.

“I don't know what I saw m’am, not really, but I will not utter a word to any soul,” Marne promised to Emily. “My friends and I, the ones who are still…who have jobs here. We have been following what you have done, must be doing, the best we can. That was you shutting down Jindosh and limiting these horrible mechanical soldiers residing in the mansion, I'm assuming?”

Emily wanted to scream aloud at hearing that there were Clockwork Soldiers _here_. She nodded at Marne in a subtle manner.

“Listen…” Emily began, took her hand back and held it out for her scarf. Marne hurriedly returned it. “There is still a lot I need to do here. I don't want you to get in any trouble, so you need to absolutely believe you never saw me. Do you understand?”

Marne nodded with the most serious expression she could muster, as if she could begin to understand the steps Emily had taken and must take to get the throne back under her control. Maybe she did, in some sort of sense.

Without another word, Marne began to pick up the fallen fruit and platter to rearrange them back as they were. Emily watched as she picked up the near perfect platter of food and, without even glancing behind her, left the room.

Sighing, Emily put her mask back over her face and turned to disarm the Arc Pylon and collect the bone charm she came in for in the first place. It better have been worth it, after all this. She was still astounded that she was able to take down Breanna without being detected by any of her witches, but one staff member was able to take her by surprise in this mansion. A mansion she was beginning to loathe.

As she pocketed the artifact filled with void energy, she promised herself that when all this was over she would remember the name Marne Knottsfield and make sure she was repaid for the honest courtesy that was shown to her today.


End file.
